Lincoln Motor Co. is taking luxury to an unprecedented level by replacing the white noise of routine driver alerts with symphony music in the upcoming Aviator SUV.

“I haven’t heard of this before,” said Professor Timothy D. Taylor, a UCLA-based author of “The Sounds of Capitalism: Advertising, Music and the Conquest of Culture.”

These soothing chime sounds, recorded by Detroit Symphony Orchestra musicians, will be played for about 25 vehicle features, including an open fuel door alert and unfastened seat belts. The musical combinations blend percussion, violin and viola.

“We thought, ‘What if you could redesign your whole soundscape, so it feels more luxurious and just elevates your ride?’ We wanted this to be your sanctuary,” said Jennifer Prescott, the Lincoln vehicle harmony supervisor, who oversees a team of 11 other engineers. “The material cars play is not very rich; it’s just dings and beeps. And we didn’t want to hire a company that hires musicians to brand companies. We wanted the world-class musicians who bring an authentic feel.”

“For every Lincoln, equalization is done for the audio system for music and separately for warnings,” Prescott said. “This is part of vehicle engineering. We had hundreds of hours of testing to make sure everything orchestrates correctly.”

The new sound launches in the all-new Lincoln Aviator midsize SUV, which debuts Nov. 28 at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Over time, the sounds will be included in all Lincoln vehicles.

Musicians sat in Lincoln cars to feel the experience and then considered language used to describe the high-end vehicles in coming up with ideas. They recorded more than 125 options, which were reviewed in listening clinics.

“We decided to go big or go home," Prescott said.

Mindfulness in cars

Lincoln seems to be following a very clear society shift.

“In an era where more and more people are going to yoga and taking mindfulness classes and trying to figure out how to declutter their lives, it makes perfect sense that a automaker would try to introduce some level of calm,” said Taylor, the UCLA music expert who grew up 80 miles northwest of Detroit in tiny Haslett. “Mindfulness classes at UCLA have just exploded. There were a few classes every quarter and now there are dozens. I can see how a high-end vehicle wants to emphasize quietness and calmness and smoothness of ride.”

A longtime interest in music moved Prescott, 52, in the unexpected direction for Lincoln.

Not only does she play the piano and clarinet, but all her children play instruments. Her mother was part of a jazz trio in bars growing up in the Upper Peninsula town of Gwinn.

“We spend a lot of time in our vehicles,” said Prescott of Northville. “And if you pay close attention you’ll start hearing how sounds and chimes distinguish the experience. It’s part of branding. Even when you’re watching movies, if you don’t know the car, you’ll notice what it sounds like.”

The Aviator will feature three levels of informational chimes — non-critical, soft-warning and hard-warning chimes.

Because the Aviator wasn’t in production yet for the project, musicians sat in the Lincoln Continental sedan to try and capture the feel of the ride.

“We didn’t know exactly what we were getting into and ended up creating hundreds of sounds,” said principal percussionist Joe Becker, 32, of Grosse Pointe Park. “We pride ourselves on being the most accessible orchestra in the world. We perform mostly in Orchestra Hall, but just this week I’ve performed in hospitals and preschools, as well. This is just a new format for us to be heard.”

Sounds of everyday life

He told of stopping at a CVS for Halloween candy and listening to nearby vehicles.

“These are sounds that can enhance the experience of everyday life, when you have live sounds,” said Becker, who played a key role in the Aviator project.

When Lincoln approached the DSO two years ago, musicians didn’t hesitate, said Erik Rönmark, vice president and general manager of the symphony. He spent countless hours watching things unfold.

“This is not anything synthesized or computer-manufactured,” said Rönmark, 41, of Troy who has been in Detroit for 14 seasons. “These are professional musicians creating music. We’re always finding new ways to get our music out there. We were the first orchestra to do radio broadcasts, which were sponsored by Ford. It was called 'The Ford Sunday Evening Hour' in the 1930s. And we were the first orchestra to do free live webcasts, again sponsored by Ford.”

The effort to spotlight great music has long been a priority of the 115-year-old Dearborn-based carmaker.

Violinist Adrienne Rönmark, 37, of Troy said the project made her realize that people rarely notice sounds that fill our daily lives.

“It was surprising to me how much we don’t normally pay attention. All of a sudden, I started listening to the car, the street noises, the doorbells. Things we take for granted,” she said. “When we think of technological advances and technology, we often separate it from the human experience. Live music is created in the moment. It is the essence of the human experience.”